Time Apart Changes Things
by ARCtheElite
Summary: Challenge fic from QueenGatomon: Davis and Kari were best friends but then Davis moved away. They meet again but things have changed a lot. Kari is different, Davis is different, and they are always arguing. Is their friendship still there?
1. The Return of the Davis

**Author's Notes: **This is a general challenge from QueenGatomon. I personally like Takari more than Daikari, but what the heck; a story is a story. Hope you enjoy!

**Title:** Time Apart Changes things  
**Main characters:** Davis and Kari  
**Summary:** Davis and Kari were best friends but then Davis moved away. They meet again but things have changed a lot. Kari is different Davis is different and they are always arguing. Is their friendship still there?  
**Pairings:** Daikari  
**Quotes to include:** "I'm sorry it has to be this way"

And, obviously, Digimon does not belong to me, nor do I get anything out of writing this. (except pure enjoyment)

* * *

**Time Apart Changes Things**

**Chapter 1: The Return of the Davis**

**August, 2004**

"Well," began Tai, "we hope you have fun in New York. I know we'll see each other again, but in the meantime stay safe, don't do anything stupid, and say 'hi' to Mimi for me."

"And Michael and Willis too," added Kari.

"No problemo!" declared Davis. "I'll be back before you notice!"

Before either of the boys could register it, Kari had leapt forward and wrapped Davis in a fierce hug. Davis took a step back to steady himself, surprised by the sudden gesture. "It's ok, Kari," he said. "We'll see each other again, just like Tai said."

"I know," sobbed Kari. "It's just going to be…different without you around."

"You've got TP there," Davis pointed out.

"It's just not the same," said Kari. Releasing the boy, Kari took a step back. "Hurry, or else you'll miss your plane."

Davis nodded once at his friends, assembled in front of him. He turned around, and with one last wave, disappeared.

* * *

**September, 2008: 4 years later**

"Hey, Kari!" shouted Tai. "Davis just sent an e-mail saying he's moving back here!"

"I know!" Kari shouted back. "I got it too!"

In the four years since Davis moved to New York, everyone had changed. Tai was, of all things studying to be a diplomat. His first year at Tokyo University studying Law, was hectic, but Tai still had time for the love of his life: soccer. Also studying at Tokyo University were his long-time friends Sora Takenouchi, Matt Ishida, Joe Kido, and Izzy Izumi. Many of the "second generation digidestined" were about to join them there; in fact, everyone (except for Cody, because of age and Mimi, because of location) would be reunited at Tokyo University. Most surprising of all however, was Davis' return and enrolment in the University.

Kari in particular was especially excited. She had not seen her best friend in over four years, and while TK existed, and was more than an adequate friend, he was…TK. He just didn't have the spontaneity Davis had. Even Tai grew out of it. And the mischievous side to Kari's life was just begging for something exciting. She scanned the e-mail through once again. _March 22,_ _7:00pm at Narita International Airport, Terminal 2_. Kari quickly memorized the details, then shut off her computer.

_Time for a snack, _she thought, and went off to satisfy her stomach, Tai following close behind.

* * *

**March 22, 2009 7:11pm**

The digidestined gathered in Terminal 2, eagerly anticipating Davis' arrival.

"Yo! Miss me?" came a voice.

The group turned as one to behold their returning hero. Davis suddenly found himself crushed underneath the weight of ten other teenagers (and one twenty year-old), arms and legs flailing everywhere. After several minutes of hugs, kisses, handshakes, friendly punches (courtesy of Tai), and general hellos, the Motomiyas and their entourage got underway.

_He hasn't aged a day, _thought Kari. His hair was as reddish-brown as ever, adorned with his trademark – Tai's trademark – goggles. He had gotten bigger, but apart from that, he was the same old Davis they knew, loved, and blamed for everything. _Heck, the air of cockiness and childish energy he carried about him was still there_, Kari observed, watching Davis do what looked like juggling DemiVeemon, his suitcases, and a giant burger all at the same time. Patamon cleverly snuck up behind Davis and "helped" by taking the burger. Laughing, Kari and the rest of the group watched an indignant Davis barrel after Patamon, screaming curses at the flying guinea pig.

_Yep, _Kari thought, _he hasn't aged a day. Make that an hour._

* * *

**April 1, 2009 8:32am**

"Hey!" shouted Davis as he sauntered into the classroom, fashionably late. The teacher glared at him.

"Motomiya, please make some effort to come on time, especially on the first day," she lectured.

"Ah, sorry," apologized Davis, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. He then walked over to the nearest empty desk – which conveniently was located beside Kari's. Kari smirked.

"What?" Davis whispered. "I slept in, ok?" Kari's smirk turned into giggles, which was cut short by a loud slap as the teacher's meter stick met their desks, shattering in a hail of wood chips. Both teens (and the entire class) straightened up and became silent, more than slightly scared of their new teacher.

Glaring at the pair, the teacher said nothing, turning back to her lesson. Nobody dared to say a single word for the rest of the period.

When the teacher finished her lesson, she looked back at the guilty duo and calmly announced that they would have detention at the end of the day, and walked out of the classroom.

_Crap, _Davis and Kari thought. TK, sitting behind the two, smiled wickedly.

* * *

**3:10pm**

"The two of you will write an apology letter each," began the teacher, "and will explain to me the importance of education, and how you fail to grasp that notion. In case either of you are not aware, this is your last year, and if you want to get into a prestigious school, you will need to work for it."

"Yes, sensei," the teens said.

"Damn," complained Davis as soon as the teacher was out of earshot. "Writing? This is cruel and unusual punishment!"

"Be glad they banned the cane," remarked Kari, beginning her letter.

"I think I'd prefer that," replied Davis. "After all, compared to facing the Emperor, Daemon, and MaloMyotismon, a little bit of pain would be a piece of cake!"

"Why don't you write that, then?" suggested Kari.

"…but that means I still have to write."

"Of course."

…

…

…

"So, Kari, know any cute girls I can hook up with?" asked Davis.

"What?"

"You know, cute girls? Hm?"

"How would I know?" asked Kari, temper rising. For one, she was not happy being here in the first place, and two, _something - _possibly Davis' blatant flirtatious attitude - was ticking her off in ways she never thought possible.

"Well, you have been here for the last four years, while I've been missing out on all the action," continued Davis, oblivious to Kari's rising temper. "So if…"

"Motomiya! Kamiya! Are you finished yet?" asked the teacher. Both of them shook their heads. The teacher glared.

"Since you fail to see the importance of discipline, I will have the two you stay after school for the enitre week. Shameful! In our day, kids like you would get the cane! Consider yourselves lucky the government banned it!" said the teacher.

Kari giggled slightly, remembering that she had told Davis the same thing not half an hour ago. The teacher however, misinterpreted it as disrespect, and treated it as such by giving her an additional week of detention, as well as the promise to see her parents. Davis, of course, being oblivious, added insult to the injury by teasing Kari after the teacher left once more.

By the time Kari did manage to get out of the school, she was fuming. Mostly at Davis, whom she blamed the bulk of her unfortunate events on. _Damn him and his blasted childishness, _she thought.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **In case anyone's wondering, TK's not evil. I mean, who wouldn't laugh at a friend who just got in trouble?

**Review please!** (If you want incentive, there's a surprise on the other side of that green button)


	2. Intervention?

**Author's Notes:** First off, thank you to those who reviewed: **PrincessJaded, BenignUser, emotionless-robot and SugarSpiral.**

Since BenignUser pointed it out, I'll see if I can settle as many gimmes as possible – which means a TK/Kari scene. Please let me know if there are more.

I think I'm going to have to up the rating soon, since more and more swear words are going to be used. A proper argument just isn't right without swearing, now is it?

To the best of my knowledge, ownership of Digimon hasn't mysteriously changed to me between chapters. So in other words, I still don't own Digimon. I don't own Inu Yasha either. Or Pokemon.

* * *

**Time Apart Changes Things**

**Chapter 2: Intervention?**

"Damn him, damn his cocky attitude, and damn those stupid goggles!" vented Kari. Lounged on the couch beside her, TK raised an golden eyebrow. "What did he do this time?" he asked.

"The idiot goes and hits on every girl he comes across! He's all like 'look at me and my perfectly tanned skin!', and 'look at my cool goggles!', and 'did I mention I saved the world once?'", she shouted. "Does he have any sense of decency?"

TK chuckled, being used to Kari's rants about Davis ever since he came back a month ago. Evidently, the two former best friends had not gotten off the right foot. Besides Davis either not knowing or not caring about getting Kari two weeks worth of detentions (or so Kari claims), he had been openly flirting with random "cute" girls, annoying Kari to no end. TK would tell Kari that maybe she's jealous, but he felt that staying alive was slightly more important. Just slightly. So he decided to do what he did best – sitting and listening and saying things as neutrally as possible so as to not offend his friend.

_Heck, I think she's turning into a Tai,_ thought TK. This sort of rash behaviour was something more commonly associated with the older Kamiya. Though perhaps age had something to do with it. Tai seemed to be growing more and more mature as he grew older, while Kari – who was easily the most mature of the group when the fought the Dark Masters – was becoming increasingly prone to violent outbursts. _Maybe it's a girls' thing, _concluded TK. _What did Matt say it was? PMSing? Oh, what the heck. Let's just say something. _

"So, uh, Kari, have you ever thought about talking to Davis? Like, talking as in nicely."

"Nicely? Nicely?" shrieked Kari. "I can't even have a decent conversation with him! He pisses me off so much I can't even stay calm looking at him! Like, this one time…"

* * *

**Earlier…**

"Midoriko! You look beautiful today! I totally love that hairclip you're wearing!" said Davis as he walked past another student. Midoriko blushed, but said nothing.

_He's a…lecher, _thought Kari. _Like that guy, Miroku, from Inu Yasha. Or Brock from Pokemon. _Fire rose up in her as she looked at Davis' shameful behaviour. Stalking up to him, she grabbed him by his collar and dragged him around the corner.

"What?" asked Davis.

"What do you mean, what?" asked Kari. "You don't just go up and flirt with random girls! It's just…wrong!"

"Who are you to say?" countered Davis.

"Why can't I?" retorted Kari. "I'm not just going to let you go around making a fool out of yourself!"

Davis snorted. "You worry too much. You need to have a little fun in life."

"Does your fun have anything do with staying after school, by any chance?"

"You're just mad because you got too weeks of detention, and the teacher tattled to your mom."

"Because of you!"

"What did I do?" asked Davis, starting to become furious. "You decided to laugh at me when I came in late. You got yourself that extra week's worth of detention because you giggled during that first detention. In fact, I could say that you gave me that first detention because you laughed at me! Put the blame where it actually belongs, Kamiya!"

"And what about when you decided to talk to me during detention?" countered Kari. "That got me a week's worth of detention."

"That's nothing compared to what you gave me!"

"Really?"

"Really!"

"How about when…"

"Ahem." Both heads swivelled to look at a _very _displeased-looking teacher looking at them. "I would much prefer it if you moved to an other area to continue your…discussion. You are disturbing my class."

"Sorry," the two mumbled.

"If I see the two of you disrupting my lessons again, I will send you to the office. Please keep that in mind."

The two teenagers nodded, then scampered off, both fuming.

**

* * *

**

"Ah."

_So much for that,_ reflected TK. He sighed and got up to search for a snack and to think. Besides himself, Yolei and Ken were just as concerned about the deteriorating situation. And Yolei, being Yolei was going to spring into action and do something both drastic and probably unnecessary. It had taken both himself and Ken (with a little bit of help from Hawkmon) to persuade her to give them two weeks. Two weeks to hopefully put everything right. So while Ken was handling Davis, TK opted to help Kari. Veemon and Gatomon were in this too, but for some reason had yet to show themselves. TK shuddered upon thinking what the two crafty digimon were planning. Maybe Gatomon could just hypnotize the two into not fighting?

"Hey, TK," came Kari's slightly timid voice.

"Mm?" he replied, still deep in thought.

"Am I being kind of…bitchy…towards Davis?"

TK thought for a moment. The nice guy side of him didn't want to say yes, for fear of hurting Kari. But the practical side told him that the sooner she stopped seeing herself as perfect, the sooner this whole mess could be fixed. TK sighed. _This is going to get really awkward. _Turning around, he looked at the girl sitting on the sofa. Kari looked at him, her hands lightly gripped together on her legs and a pleading look in her eyes.

"Well, it's not that you're a bitch…," began TK, "but you aren't really giving Davis a chance. I mean, you haven't seen him in four years, and haven't really talked to each other that much. You're going to have to accept that he's changed, just like you have. Maybe if you get to know Davis again, you might find out why he's acting this way."

Kari looked at him for a minute, then nodded. "I guess," she said.

"See what happens tomorrow," advised TK, returning with a slice of cake he scavenged from the fridge. Kari wrapped him in a hug.

"I will," she said. "Thanks, TK."

* * *

"How long have they been going at it?" asked Ken. He and TK were sitting in the Ichijouji's living room, connected to their 'field agents' (a.k.a. digimon partners) via cellphone.

"About twenty-five minutes," replied Veemon. "You think we should stop them?"

"Nah," said Gatomon. "They're big kids. They should be able to handle their own problems."

"But it looks pretty nasty," interrupted Wormmon.

He was right. Davis and Kari were screaming at each other, faces red and arms waving to accentuate their arguments. They stood in the middle of the schoolyard, oblivious to anyone watching. Luckily for them, school was long since out and the only bystanders to witness the embarrassing scene were the digimon.

"Can you hear what they're saying?" asked TK.

Gatomon trained her oversized ears to the conversation below.

"How about you show some sort of self-control?" asked Kari.

"Why are you lecturing me, whore?" retorted Davis.

"Whore?"

"Yeah, whore. Tai told me all about your 'adventures' while I was gone. Why don't you try whoring yourself off to the Dark Undersea Master guy too?"

SLAP!

Davis nursed a red cheek and a broken pride, but grinned with victory. "So now you resort to violence, hm?"

Kari shook with anger. Keeping the tears from showing, she muttered a single "fucker", before storming off. Davis went the other way.

"Yeah, that's about it," reported Gatomon. The other digimon stared mutely at the now-deserted schoolyard, shock on their faces. TK and Ken looked at each other. Ken snapped out of his stupor first and began rapping out orders.

"TK, warn Tai that his sister might come home with an urge to kill him. Gatomon, tail Kari home but don't let her see you. Veemon, do the same with Davis. Patamon, go and rendezvous with Hawkmon and make sure Yolei does not learn of this. Wormmon, return to base and await further instructions."

"Roger."

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Does anyone have any good ideas for arguments?

**Review! **My life depends on it!


	3. What the Hell?

**Author's Notes:** First off, thanks to those who reviewed my last chapter: **Lord Pata, PrincessJaded, BenignUser, SugarSpiral, emotionless-robot, Potgenie and daikariluver00.**

And second, I apologize, but when I started writing this fic I was going to have some serious soul searching/emotionally romantic stuff. By now I've decided that, given my inexperience (and therefore lack of realistic connection) in both arguing and romance, that won't work. And while I did get suggestions, I don't think I'm qualified to write about them. So this story is going to take a rather drastic turn (in my opinion), starting with this chapter. The wonderful suggestions I did get I tried to put them in as much as I can. And there's going to be quite a bit of focus on Ken and TK, just because it's more exciting to write them than it is to write an arguing couple.

Any interesting ideas you see here are property of emotionless-robot's story "Teddy Bear". You should read it **:D** And the Shell is courtesy of whoever thought of it in the digi-challenge-forum. Digimon is property of Toei/Bandai (I think). The only thing I get by writing this is 1) Putting off bed-time, 2) Sparkling reviews that make me feel warm and fuzzy inside, and 3) Making people waste their time by reading long and unecessary author's notes.

* * *

**Time Apart Changes Things**

**Chapter 3: What the Hell…?**

"Tai, are you going to come out anytime soon?" asked Agumon, as Tai cowered behind his hastily-erected pillow fort.

"Hell no!" came a muffled reply. The nineteen-year old boy grasped his prized teddy bear as if it could shield him from the dreaded wrath of Kari. The girl was currently stalking just outside of Tai's room, ready to pounce. She mimicked her digimon partner's silent footsteps as she patrolled the living room, waiting for Tai to emerge. And wait she would. All night and into the next morning, if necessary.

Gatomon suddenly vaulted into Tai's room, causing him to give a very high-pitched squeak. "Don't kill me!" begged Tai from behind his dugout.

Gatomon scoffed. "I'm just here to ask: did you really tell Davis what Kari was doing in the past four years – knowing very well that she hadn't done anything?"

"What about that fiasco with Ken?" asked Tai. "Not that I said anything, of course." Tai added the last part while shrinking away from Gatomon's suddenly outstretched claws.

"That was some weird idea with Yolei and Ken and who knows what else. Don't ask me who came up with that; I don't know," answered Gatomon. "Anything else?"

"Matt?"

"Idiot! Those were singing lessons! And in return Kari would teach Matt how to dance!"

"…Oh. So that's why they had their arms wrapped around each other."

"Her and Sora?"

"It's a girl thing, moron. They like to scream and hug each other when they haven't seen each other in a long time. Like a week."

"…Oh. Whoops."

"You told Davis that?" asked Gatomon, hackles raised and claws extended.

"No! I mean, yes!… I mean…wait, what was I supposed to…don't hurt me! AHHH!"

Kari stopped pacing as screams of anguish began emanating from Tai's room. Confused, she poked her head inside.

Tai held his best friend against him, sobbing as the poor creature was ripped to shreds by Gatomon's fury. The teddy bear had put up a valiant fight, but in the end was unable to fend off the enraged Champion. Slowly, the funeral procession began as Tai trekked outside to bury his fallen champion, the bystanders silently looking on in a mixture of shock, confusion, pity, and disgust.

"It's about time he got rid of that," Gatomon remarked, breaking the silence.

* * *

TK and Ken met once again, trying to drown out the sounds of arguing in the next room. Kari and Davis were going at it again, and it was only by the grace of whatever benign deity that the two weren't attacking each other again. TK sighed, an act Ken mirrored.

"Thirteenth time in two weeks," TK reported.

"Any luck finding the source of the arguments?" asked Ken.

"At first I thought it was because Davis was instrumental in Kari getting two weeks worth of detention on the first day, plus Davis' flirting. But I spoke to a guy and he shot that down. There's no way something like that could generate so much fighting."

The two winced as Davis dropped the f-bomb. Ken nodded. "Hm…you're right, it does sound trivial. Maybe there is a deeper issue at hand, and they're bringing up trivialities just because they ran out of things to say."

"In this case, we're going to need to find out the root of the matter before any of this is solved," continued Ken. "Any ideas?"

"We'll probably have to get in on their personal lives, something a little more personal than what we currently know of them. It might be helpful to learn a little about Davis' history during his absence," TK advised. "We should probably get in touch with Mimi and the other New York digidestined."

Ken nodded. "And we should have some spies in both of their inner circles too. I'll have Veemon and Gatomon on it."

"Jun and Tai too," added TK. "More pairs of eyes, and they probably have a history of them as kids too. That might come in handy."

"Let's see if Kari has a diary too," said Ken. "I doubt Davis would have one, but if Kari does, that would help a lot."

"She's going to kill us if she finds us snooping, right?" asked TK.

"Of course. But that's the risk of private investigation," replied Ken.

"I swear you're going to make money doing this in twenty years," said TK, shaking his head.

"Maybe."

* * *

"Damn it!" shouted Davis. "Kari just went too far!"

Veemon lounged by Davis' bed, looking mildly concerned. "What did she do this time?" he asked.

"She…she…she insulted my hair!" he exploded.

Veemon stared blankly, before rolling on the ground, laughing.

"What?" protested Davis. "I take great pride in my hair!"

Veemon shook his head, clearing tears out of his eyes. "Do you have any idea how dumb that just sounded?"

"…"

"Ok, very dumb," said Veemon. "You do realize that your first argument with Kari was about your lecherous behaviour, and then became watered down to something as meaningless as hair."

"So?" asked Davis. Veemon stared at him dumbly for a second. The blue dragon chose his next words very carefully:

"You're an idiot."

* * *

"The prick!"

Gatomon lazily opened an eye as Kari stormed into the room in a whirlwind of energy. _Do I really want to know? _she thought to herself. _But I_ am _supposed to be spying on her…Ah, what the heck, another rant won't kill me. _"What's up?"

"I have never been so insulted in my life! Not even when Tai hid all my clothes in retaliation for accidentally telling Sora about his teddy bear!" Kari ranted.

"What did he do this time?"

"He said that Cody's hair looked better than mine!" Kari shrieked. "The Shell!? How can anyone beat that?"

Gatomon turned onto her stomach, yawning and stretching her arms in front of her. True, it's hard to beat the infamous Shell in terms of plainness or utter lack of style, but still, getting angry over something so insignificant was just…barbaric. _TK and Ken are right,_ she mused. _Something must have happened. Sounds juicy, too. _"I thought you and Davis were best friends before you left."

"We were, but then that jerk, he…he…turned into a jerk!" said Kari.

_Very articulate, Kari. You're losing your grip on reality, not to mention Japanese. _"What do you mean turned into a jerk? Did something happen?"

"He came back from Japan and started flirting with all these girls, and making fun of me, and…" Kari continued to rant about every single one of Davis' shortcomings since his return not a month ago, something Gatomon was largely tuning out.

_Damn ears, _cursed Gatomon. _Makes tuning her out all the more difficult. Oh well, it looks like conventional methods aren't working. Time to take drastic measures…_

"Kari," began Gatomon, using her best patronising tone of voice. "Sit down." After Kari had down so, sitting on the floor with her back propped up against the bed, Gatomon continued, "Let's start from the beginning. Without leaving anything out, tell me exactly what happened between the two of you from the time he sent that e-mail saying he was returning to the first day of school."

Kari nodded, and began.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** If my calculations are correct (I'm a music major; so don't count on my calculations being anywhere _close _to being correct) there should be one more chapter.

*Begs* **Review! ***Falls prostrate on the floor*


	4. I'm Sorry it has to be This Way

**Author's Notes: **A big thank-you to those who reviewed: PrincessJaded, emotionless-robot, Potgenie (does that literally mean that you'll grant people pot?), and SugarSpiral

There's some randomness in this chapter. Including lots of violence =D.

I still don't own Digimon, nor do I get any monetary gain from this (unless someone wants to send me money because I wrote this).

* * *

**Time Apart Changes Things**

**Chapter 4: I'm Sorry it has to be This Way**

Gatomon grew more and more annoyed as she listened to Kari rant about what happened. Not only was Kari swearing at Davis in every other sentence, it appeared as if this entire things was started off as a trivial thing. _Scratch what I said earlier, _thought Gatomon. _Another rant is going to kill me. I guess this calls for plan B. Oh Sovereigns, forgive me for what I am about to do. _

"And then that motherfucking-son-of-a-bitch goes and pisses the hell out of me, and…"

"Stop," said Gatomon. "Just. Stop."

As Kari closed her mouth, she noticed that Gatomon was taking deep breaths. The cat's eyes were closed, and Kari was pretty sure she could see veins popping out of the feline's head. Her ears were twitching, and her tail swished back and forth. Kari gulped. Gatomon opened her eyes.

"Kari," began Gatomon. "I'm sorry it has to be this way, but…"

"…You're an idiot! Getting pissed off at him over something like this! Go and apologize to him!"

Screams and cries of mercy rocked the Kamiya household. Tai poked his head into his sister's room. Kari was backed into a corner, trying to fend off Gatomon's gloved paws. Tai was about to intervene and save Kari's life, but figured that a) if he were Kari and Gatomon were Matt, he'd be suffering the same fate about now, and b) he wasn't in any particular hurry to join Captain Firefly (his teddy bear). As it were, Gatomon's paws were balled into fists, so there probably won't be any lasting damage. Tai snuck out of the room.

"TAI!" shouted Gatomon. _Oh, cra—I mean, poo, _thought Tai, and poked his head back in. Gatomon was still pounding the life out of Kari, stared at her brother with a look that clearly said "get me out of here".

"Go. And tell Davis. That he. Is. Next. Got it?"

Tai gulped, turned, and ran.

* * *

"Are you sure this is going to work?" asked Davis. He was holed up in his own version of Tai's pillow fort. "After all, I heard you didn't fare very well against Gatomon either."

"Don't worry," said Tai. "This time you have allies."

TK, Ken, Tai, and their digimon partners stood guard around Davis' room. TK stood by the window, while Ken pushed against the table barricading the door. Veemon snuggled inside the pillow fort as a last line of defence, while Tai and Agumon were holed up in Davis' closet. Wormon hung from the ceiling light, and Patamon was watching out of Gatomon.

"I hope so," said Davis, fearing for his life.

Gatomon suddenly leapt in, dragging a suffering Kari behind her. Tai gave the order to attack. "Get her!"

Three humans and four digimon tackled the tiny white cat into the ground. The nimble digimon evaded their attacks. Deciding that she would sink in Tai's hair, Gatomon chose TK to jump off instead, landing in front of Davis and Veemon. Veemon raised his fists in challenge, but Gatomon promptly knocked him aside and grasped the younger gogglehead by his collar. Sapphire eyes bored into frightened brown ones.

"You should feel _very _lucky that I used up my energy on Kari," said Gatomon. "I am getting _very _annoyed listening to Kari rant about you and her every night. You and her are going to kiss and/or make up, or I will sink my claw into your throat." The feline showed Davis her gleaming claw. Davis gulped, nodding violently. Gatomon released the now-deathly-pale Davis and addressed the rest of group. "Alright everyone, clear out. Let's give them some room."

Scared into submission, everyone sans Kari and Davis beat a hasty retreat into the Motomiya's living room, where Jun and her partner digimon sat leafing through magazines. Tai and TK went to raid Davis' fridge, Veemon following, while everyone else followed Gatomon to the couches. Agumon broke the silence.

"Anyone want to bet on the outcome?" he asked.

"Ah, why not," said Tai, leaning back. "Not as if we have anything better to do until they come out. I bet…fifty yen that they're going to kill each other in there. Or rather, Davis is going to kill my little sister because Gatomon already beat her up."

"Aren't you positive," said TK.

"She's a big girl," said Tai. "She can take care of herself."

"Only fifty yen?" asked Ken. "I bet ten times that amount that Gatomon scared them so much they're going to actually make up."

"I call!" said Tai.

"I bet another two hundred yen that they're going to come out blushing," challenged TK.

"Only blushing?" asked Patamon. "They'll be holding hands!"

"How much do you want to bet on that?" asked Agumon.

"Let's say…three thousand yen!"

"Where are you going to get three thousand yen from, Patamon?" asked TK suspiciously.

"From the rest of you giving me three thousand yen after I win," replied the flying guinea pig.

"We'll see about that. We'll see."

"I bet," began Jun, "that we'll wait here for the next hour, and when Tai finally gets so annoyed he breaks down the twerp's door, the two will be making out on the floor. Four thousand yen."

"Done," said Agumon. "Let's see…we're at fifty for Tai, five hundred for Ken, seven hundred for TK, three thousand for the flying pig – Ow! Sorry! – and four thousand for Jun. Sounds good, except Tai is a cheap-ass."

"And you didn't even bet!" retorted Tai.

"I don't have too!" said Agumon.

"You're just scared of losing, wimp!"

"Pepper Breath!"

Everyone stared as Tai ran around, trying in vain to save his flaming hair. Patamon tried to put it out by blowing it away. "Boom Bubble!"

…

…

…

"Whoops."

"Patamon, didn't you learn that oxygen _fuels _fire?" asked TK.

"I thought I was breathing out…um…"

"Carbon dioxide?" supplied Ken.

"Yeah!"

"I'll try!" said Wormon. "Sticky Net!"

…

…

…

Sighing, Ken dumped a pail of water over Tai, putting out the fire. "Ok, there's one problem solved. Now to get him off the ground."

Wormon shrugged. "The net will wear off in a couple hours."

* * *

"So…," began Davis.

"Um…," said Kari.

"I guess we should…um…kiss and – I mean, make up."

Kari nodded, trying to cover a bloody nose.

"Here," said Davis, handing her some tissues.

"Thanks."

"It's the least I could do, since you got your ass kicked because of me."

"No," replied Kari. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that, and try to point out every wrong thing you did."

"So," began Davis. "You want to start again?" Kari nodded.

"Um…so that took care of the make up part…" ventured Davis. Kari smiled slyly. Blood dribbled down her cheek.

"On a second thought, you might want to take care of your nosebleed first," said Davis. "And the fat lip. And the bruises. I guess we really pissed Gatomon off, didn't we? Here, the medicine cupboard is in the bathroom." Picking Kari up, Davis used his foot to wedge open the door. Nine pairs of eyes stared back at him carrying Kari. Agumon broke the stunned silence.

"I guess everyone lost."

"But they're blushing!" protested TK.

"But blushing isn't the most important part," explained Agumon. "Technically, Patamon's the closest, but since they aren't holding hands either, I guess no one wins."

"I'm just not going to ask," said Davis as he carried his wounded princess into the bathroom.

"So Gatomon," asked Ken. "What exactly happened?"

"Does it really matter?" she asked.

"We're curious," supplied Wormon.

"Then use your imaginations. I'm going to take a catnap; this whole thing tires me out."

"I think I could use one too," said Patamon.

"Fine, let's go home," replied TK, and the pair left.

Ken looked at Wormon. "I guess we should leave too. Tamachi is pretty far away."

"I'll walk you to the station," offered Agumon.

"What about Tai?" asked Jun.

"Leave him there," said Agumon. "Make him think twice about calling the digimon of courage wimp."

"But he's just lying in the middle of the living room," protested Jun.

"Then roll him outside. The sticky net isn't sticking to the floor."

* * *

**Seven hours later…**

"Um, where am I?" asked Tai. "Mom? Kari? Sora? Matt? _ANYONE_?"

* * *

**Author's Notes: **I realize that there hasn't been much Daikari action going around, so if you want, I can write an epilogue of sorts. I know QueenGatomon said she wanted to end it off as a romance, but I guess the only thing I've done is implied romance.

But in terms of plot, the story pretty much ends here.

Epilogue or no epilogue? **Review** and I will find out!


	5. Epilogue

**Author's Notes: **It's not much of an epilogue. I'm just pretty much tying up loose ends. It's also the shortest of the five chapters, at less than 1000 words.

Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter: **PrincessJaded**,** Lord Pata**, **Potgenie**,** emotionless-robot**, and** SugarSpiral, **who threatened to gut me if I didn't write the epilogue. I'm glad I live across the ocean.

* * *

**Time Apart Changes Things**

**Chapter 5: Epilogue**

Kari rested her head against Davis. "You call this a date?" she asked.

Davis scratched his head. "Well, I figured that dinner and movies sounds a little clichéd, so…"

"So you decided to have a date in a tree. You do realize that if anyone sees this, they'll be singing the K-I-S-S-I-N-G song for a very long time."

"I guess I haven't thought about that."

"And you realize that there's no food up here."

"Don't worry, Kari, I have a…um…crushed bag of potato chips and a…um…crushed bar of chocolate."

"Ah."

…

…

…

"Davis"

"Hm?"

"How do you suppose we get down?"

* * *

"I have to admit," said Yolei. "You and TK actually did something."

Ken coughed. "Actually, it was Gatomon who did everything. She quite literally beat the sense back into Kari."

"Who knew," added TK. "I never thought I'd see the day when Gatomon had to do that."

"What happened afterwards?" asked Yolei.

"Well, Gatomon apologized about three hundred times, and they didn't make eye contact for about a week, but then they suddenly went out for ice cream and everything was fixed."

"And Tai? What happened to him?"

"He got a haircut."

"WHAAAAAAAT????"

"He got a haircut."

Yolei fell to the ground, laughing. TK and Ken both thought about for a second, then joined Yolei. Wiping the tears from his eyes, TK attempted to get back up.

"At least there was no lasting damage, then."

* * *

Tai sat glumly in front of a mirror. _"Why? O divine justice, where hast thou been? Why hast thou betrayed me?"_ he moaned.

Agumon snorted. "Tai, stop whining and stop composing bad poetry. It's your fault!"

_"I looked to the east, and could not find thee. I searched to the west, but alas, thou hast fled from me. O divine justice, why?"_

"Tai! Shut up!"

_"O unholy fire, thou hast seared me! Ah! Cruel, cruel fate. Mine wretched soul!"_

"Gatomon, do you have any good ideas?" asked Agumon. "Tai's starting to get a little annoying."

_"I looked for justice, but was met by fire. I looked for mercy, but was scorched."_

Gatomon nodded. " I think I'd prefer Kari's ranting to this. This is…barbaric"

_"O cruel world! Thou that showst no mercy to mine poor body. Thy blades have pierced me!"_

"Ah, what the heck" LIGHTNING PAW!

…

…

…

"That worked," said Agumon.

"After Kari, I vowed that I would never do that again, but Tai just crossed the line!"

"By the way", said Agumon. "I never got to ask you: what were you and Veemon planning?

"Planning?" asked Gatomon.

"Yeah," said Agumon. "You and Veemon disappeared for a while. Weren't you making a grand plan to get Kari and Davis to stop fighting?"

Gatomon stared at him. "Who told you that? We just got too annoyed and went for a coffee together!"

"Oh."

"Seriously! You guys give us too much credit."

"That was what Wormon said, anyway. And Wormon heard from TK and Ken."

"Well, they're wrong."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"What about Tai?"

"He'll get used to his new hair style."

_And indeed he did. Twenty years later, Taichi Kamiya, United Nations diplomat to the Digital World was still wearing the same hair style. The legacy of the "bush" however was carried on by his son, Taichi Kamiya Junior.

* * *

  
_

"You know, Kari…"

"What, Davis? Have you found a way off this tree yet?"

"No, but I just realized something."

"Hm?"

"Gatomon's going to kill us."

"Why?"

"Because…"

"Because…?"

"We only did the make up part. We never got to the kiss part."

"I think we can remedy that."

"Now?"

"Why not, Davis? You've been waiting for this moment since fifth grade."

"Really? Has if been that long?"

"Do you want to die or not?"

"I think I prefer living. Especially since 'death by Gatomon' doesn't sound like a very manly way to die."

"Did you just insult my digimon?"

"Ah…nope!"

…

…

…

_"Davish and Kari sitting in a tree, K-I-SH-SH-I-N-G…"_

"VEEMON!!!"

"Oopsh!"

**End

* * *

  
**

**Author's Notes: **That's it! Hope you enjoyed my story. Anyone with a challenge can PM me (I found that I don't like thinking up of plots).


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